














\ V.^^* *' 






SOME KECOLLECTIONS 



OK THE LATE 



Antoine Pierre Bbrryer 



A PAPER BEAD BEFORE THE 



NEAV YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY, 
On Tuesday, February 16, 1869, 



BY 



JOHN B I G E L O W, 



1869 






Feinted at the ofpioe oe the New Toek Evening Post , 
41 Nassau Street, corner of Liberty. 



OFFICERS OF THE SOCIETY. 



1869 



HAMILTON FISH, LL. D. 

THOMAS DE WITT, D.D. 

Second Ywe-l^rieMmi, 
GULIAN C. VEEPLANCK, LL.D. 

JOHN ROMEYN BRODHEAD, LL.D 

domestic (^otmesponding ^ectietaijij, 
WILLIAM J. HOPPIN. 

ANDREW WARNER. 

BENJAMIN H. FIELD. 

:(iibtiatiian,, 
(I E R G E H. MOORE. LL.D. 



The death of Berryer marks an epocli in the history 
of forensic eloquence. Though belonging by his ideas 
and achievements rather to a past generation than to 
the present, he surrendered at the grave many honor- 
able distinctions, any one of which would have filled the 
measure of no ordinary ambition. He was the greatest 
of French orators since Mirabeau, perhaps since Cicero ; 
he was for more than thirty years the undisputed head 
of the French bar ; from his youth up he was the favorite 
counsel for all political offenders in France ; he was 
one of the Immortels of the French Academy ; he was 



the most distinguished representative of the so-called 
Legitimist party, over whose feebleness and unpopu- 
larity he threw the protecting mantle of his sympathetic 
genius. As a member of the Corps Legislatif no one 
spoke with more power nor was heard with greater 
respect. He was the ablest, and perhaps the last 
formidable champion of feudalism in France, outside 
the Church, and finally, he was a universal favorite in 
French society. 

As the life of such a man, though he was the most 
thoroughly French of Frenchmen, could not be without 
its influence on every civilized people, so his death can- 
not be to any civilized people a matter of indifference. 
Justice will in due season be done to his genius, and 
achievements by his countrymen, who, alone among 
modern nations seem duly to estimate the value to the 
living, of the fame of their illustrious dead. 

I propose to myself the humbler task of tracing what 
is best worth remembering of an intercourse with Mr. 
Berryer, neither very long nor very intimate, yet long 
enough and intimate enough to teach me what should be 
more generally known, that besides being one of the most 
gifted of men, he was one of the most substantial bene- 
factors of the United States during the late crisis when 
our need of European friends was, I am sorry to say, in 
an inverse ratio to the supply. As such a benefactor, he 
has seemed to deserve some tribute from this Society. 



Benyer was born and buried in the same years with 
the distinguished poet upon whom a new title to im- 
mortality was conferred only two weeks since, under 
the auspices of this body.*- Thus it is with a certain 
solemn regularity that Nature marks the intervals be- 
tween seed time and harvest, throughout her kingdoms. 
In 1811 he was called to the bar. In 1830, when he 
reached his fortieth year, then the age of eligibility, he 
was chosen a deput}^ to the Legislative Assembly where 
he made his debut as a political orator on the same day 
with Mr. Gruizot. The Eevolution of July in the same 
year made young Gruizot a minister and the still younger 
Berryer, the Sysiphus of a hopeless opposition. A com- 
mon genius inspired each of these eminent statesmen 
through life with a profound respect for the other, even 
while separated in their political action by the most 
divergent notions of duty but of late years common dis- 
appointments and common hopes had assisted in con- 
verting their respect into a cordial friendship. 

Berryer was also a member of two republican Assem- 
blies from 1848 to 1851. He was then in the full ma- 
turity of his genius. It was during this period that he 
achieved his greatest parliamentary triumphs and re- 
vealed that marvellous practical talent for affairs, which 



a. Wm. C. Bryant read a paper entitled " Some Notices of the Life of Fitz Greene Halleck," 
before the Historical Society on the 2d February. Hallecjj and Berryer were born 1790, and 
died in 1869. 



every administration in succession tried in vain to at- 
tract to its support. Already it was remarked that he 
excelled all competitors in nothing more than in the 
skill with which he treated questions of finance which 
too frequently fall to the charge of statesmen more dis- 
tinguished for industry than for eloquence. 

In 1851 Barryer moved in the National Assembly 
the decree declaring Louis Napoleon Bonaparte deposed 
from the Presidency and that the Executive power pass 
into the hands of the National Assembly. The decree 
was adopted unanimously but resulted, as we all know, 
in a few hours in making the mover a prisoner in the 
casernes of the Quai D'Orsay and the President, Em- 
peror of France. The following year Berry er was 
chosen hatonnier of the French bar and, member of the 
Academy. 

In 1863 he was persuaded, not without much hesita- 
tion, to accept from his old constituency at Marseilles a 
seat in the Legislative Assembly. 

My acquaintance with him commenced in the sum- 
mer of that year and shortly after his election to that 
body in which by virtue of his age and his rank as an 
orator, jurist and statesman he was expected to occupy 
a seat of honor on the benches of the opposition. 

The relations of the United States with Europe had 
at this time reached their most critical stage. The 
then recent arrest of Mason and Slidell, had furnished 



our enemies with what they chose to regard as a pre- 
text for an aggressive policy towards the United States ; 
all the ports of England swarmed with blockade-run- 
ners and four formidable iron clad steamers were 
building for the Confederates in French waters. The 
statesmen of the Old World with scarcely an exception 
even among those most friendly to our Union despaired 
of our success and it seemed as if the governments of 
"Western Europe were only waiting for the completion of 
these vessels to recognize the rebel organization at Rich- 
mond and practically extend the base of revolution- 
ary operations against the United States from England 
to the Continent as the shortest way to end what they 
regarded as a ruinous and unprofitable war. Whether 
the catastrophe which seemed impending, could, or 
could not be averted, appeared to depend under Provi- 
dence, mainly upon the course that should be taken 
by France. The great body of the French people 
never sympathized with the rebels and would never 
have forgiven any administration which directly or 
indirectly countenanced the spread or perpetuation of 
slavery. The danger was, or at least seemed to be 
that between Continental complications on the one hand 
and the desire of the Government to strengthen the 
Anglican Alliance, the people would remain in ignor- 
ance of the real issues until the irreparable mischief 
had been accomplished. The opposition could, if dis- 



posed, make those issues intelligible to tlie people, and 
compel the Government if tempted as we then feared 
it might be to aid the rebels, to take at least three very 
perilous responsibilities before France : 

1st. Of abetting the spread and perpetuation of 
African slavery ; 

2d. Of aiding traitors to overturn an established 
government, of which no complaint could be made, 
except that it was unfavorable to the extension of 
slavery ; 

3d. Of aiding in the overthrow of the only thoroughly 
Republican Grovernment in the world ! 

On either of these issues no government in France 
would dare to encounter a well-organized and resolute 
opposition in the Corps Legislatif. It was important, 
therefore, to know as early as possible, how the leading 
members of that party felt towards us, and especially 
how men who like Berryer never pretended to have any 
sympathies with republicanism as such, could be made 
to see the impolicy of alienating the affections of a nation, 
whose friendship it was the traditional policy of France 
to cultivate. There was the more solicitude about his 
course because it was known that Mr. Thiers had never 
forgiven us for the somewhat imperative manner in 
which the government of which he was a member in 
1835-6, had been summoned by Greneral Jackson to pay 
an indemnity for old spoliation upon our commerce and. 



{ 



as Berryer, like Thiers, opposed the payment of the in- 
demnity, it seemed not impossible that he might also 
have nursed a grudge against us which he would be dis- 
posed to take this occasion to indulge. 

Such was the situation when I learned through a com- 
mon friend that Mr. Berryer was collecting information 
about our affairs, and would be pleased to have me spend 
a day with him at his country place, Auger ville La 
Riviere, whither he had already repaired for his pro- 
fessional vacation. 

The Chateau of Augerville lies about forty miles south 
of Paris and about fifteen miles from the railway station 
at Etampes. It was a princely property, and once 
belonged to an old Jacobite — in itself no inconsider- 
able attraction in Berryer's eyes, — and though very 
little money appeared to have been laid out upon it 
latterly, it had a certain feudal charm which age and 
neglect seemed rather to enhance than impair. 

M}^ path to the chateau led across a draw-bridge, and 
through a grassy court, trending off on either side to a 
beautifully wooded park. The lad who took my card soon 
returned and conducted me through the chateau, to the 
rear where I found the old gentleman, then seventy- 
three, sitting with an elderly lady in a spacious arbor 
under the trees on the lawn — it was the 16th of Sep- 
tembeir — with his hand full of opened letters, just 

received. The group, the Chateau, the venerable 
3 



10 

trees, tlieir owner only less venerable conning his 
letters, the parterres of brilliant flowers which gemmed 
the lawn, the repose of everything around, presented 
one of those seductive pictures of rural comfort and 
refinement which I have never seen in their perfec- 
tion out of France. 

As he rose to receive me he put the finishing charm 
to the picture by giving it life. He was dressed in a 
velvet, single-breasted hunting jacket, gray figured 
pantaloons fitting snugly to the leg and low shoes. 
His head was covered by a white felt hat with a wide 
brim slightly turned up at the sides and sitting jauntily, 
a little on one side of the head. He was remarkably 
well formed ; compact but not corpulent. His face 
without being handsome was fascinating and was il- 
lumined by a pair of large, dark eyes which" challenged 
the respect and attention of any one upon whom they 
lighted. His welcome was so thoroughly cordial that 
I felt before I opened my lips that the primary object 
of my journey was accomplished. 

After partaking of some refreshments he led the way 
to his study where our conversation soon fell upon the 
revolt in the United States and the relations of our 
respective countries. I went over the subject with 
him as briefly as I could, developing the issues that 
were accumulating between us and France and "giving 
him at length the history of the conspiracy of which I 



11 

had just procured evidence, to build war steamers in 
France to be placed at the disposal of the rebels. In the 
course of our conversation I showed him a copy of the 
Imperial Proclamation of Neutrality issued in 1861. He 
read it, then for the first time, and said that if, in the 
face of such a proclamation the French Government 
permitted those steamers to leave j)oi't) it would be 
because the Emperor had determined to abandon the 
attitude of neutrality, he did not believe that any- 
thing could be done in the courts if the Grovern- 
ment were against us and then launched out into a 
thrilling description of what he termed the subjected 
condition of the French people, a condition, said he, 
and his voice quivered with emotion as he uttered 
the words, " so humilitating to such an intelligent 
people." 

He deplored the Mexican expedition, which he said 
he could not comprehend, neither could he comprehend 
the Emperor's passion for expeditions to the ends of 
the earth, which were exhausting the energies of 
France, without giving her wealth or glory. He 
seemed surprised and incredulous when I told him 
that I had information which led me to believe that 
the Archduke Maximillian, would accept the crown of 
Mexico, and asked if his uncle of Belgium would ap- 
prove of such an arrangement. I gave my reasons for 
thinking that any objections King Leopold might have 



12 

entertained had been overcome. He said he had 
known the Archduke personally, that he was an esprit 
vague, and was no doubt influenced through some of the 
infirmities of his character to yield to this temptation, 
"but," he asked with some vehemence "what is the 
good of all this to France?" "She may collect the 
700,000 francs that are owing to her citizens in 
Mexico," I answered with affected gravity. " Yes," 
said he with a grim smile, to " fill the pockets of 
speculators." His expression then becoming more 
serious, he said that he feared this Mexican en- 
terprise was destined to embroil France with the 
United States, which he thought would be a result 
every way to be deplored. He then asked with in- 
creased earnestness what were our chances of main- 
taining the Union. I recapitulated the familiar reasons 
on which all loyal Americans nourished their faith ; 
spoke of our marvellous artillery, of the one hundred 
war vessels we were then building, and the terror they 
would be to England's commerce if she violated her 
neutral obligations. "But," said he, interrupting me, 
"how about our commerce? would we not suffer 
equally?" I replied that France had comparatively 
little oceanic commerce. He shrugged his shoulders 
and said, "how lucky we have no commerce!" and 
then he told the story of a steady-going shopkeeper in 
the time of the first revolution who comforted himself 



IS 

with the reflection that while many of his friends and 
neighbors were in a good deal of trouble, he had a 
place in the National Guard ; that the duty of patroll- 
ing the streets at night was not very hard, and to 
crown his good luck there was no business doing, 
''Point de commerced "So, we," said Berryer, "shall 
be fortunate, having no commerce if we stumble upon 
a war to keep us occupied till our business revives." 

During this conversation we had taken our hats and 
were walking around his grounds. He paid no atten- 
tion, however, to the beautiful objects of nature, which 
were dividing with him my interest and attention. He 
recurred to the situation of his country and said he 
could no longer stand the way things were going on. 
Though an old man, he was determined to do what he 
could to make the nation comprehend its position. He 
went on to say that there was a very large number of 
the soi-disant Imperialists who were dissatisfied with the 
Mexican expedition, and who thought just as he did about 
recognizing the confederate organization in America? 
but who, nevertheless, would not vote against the Gov- 
ernment. The reason they gave to him for this refusal 
was, that a defeat of the Government would bring on a 
crisis, ruin the 23ublic credit and then would come all 
the evils, tried and untried, which usually follow in the 
train of revolutions m France. When I said that I had 
lost no opportunity with my Government and compa- 



/" 



14 

triots, of testifying to the friendly dispositions wliicli I 
found everywhere among the French people for our 
Republic, he said : " You are very right to do so ; in 
this business the people and the Grovernment are quite 
distinct. The French people are indisposed to take any 
step unfriendly to the United States. Unfortunately, 
the Emperor has one great advantage over us, French 
people. He can pursue his plans steadily and without 
being led aside by his amour jpropre, whereas, we French 
people, always make our interest secondary where our 
national i^ride is involved. In that way he is leading 
us a chase whither nobody seems to know but himself, 
and before we are aware of it or can help ourselves he 
may get our vanity on his side." 

Of England and of her policy towards the Uni- 
ted States as well as towards France, he spoke 
in a tone which seemed to derive its bitterness all 
the way from the treaty of Utrecht. He denounced 
the Anglo-French alliance, said it had been fatal to 
every sovereign in France who had embraced it, that it 
had brought Charles X and Louis Philippe to grief, 
and that in the end he believed it would prove equally 
disastrous to the Emperor. It certainly would, if it 
should lead him into any combination against the United 
States. He then remarked that, as I might suppose 
from his past political associations, he favored the po- 
licy of Louis XIY towards America, and he felt that 



15 

tlie substantial interests of France were identified with 
our unity and strength. I left him perfectly satisfied 
that what with his prejudices — shall I call them — against 
the Imperial Government, his reverence for the tradi- 
tions of his party and his respect for national rights, 
there was no danger, to say the least, of his giving con- 
sciously, any aid or comfort to our enemies. 

In what I have briefly reported, of a conversation of 
several hours duration, I have not felt it necessary to 
say how far I shared, nor how far I did not share, the 
opinions expressed by Mr. Berryer, it being my present 
purpose simply to communicate as well as I can the im- 
pressions I received at my first interview with this re- 
markable man when a variety of matters of peculiar 
interest to Americans were passed in review. 

I was not long in discovering that I had not miscal- 
culated either his disposition or ability to serve us. 

The Grovernment of France, in reply to the remon- 
strances of Mr. Seward, promised that the war steamers 
building at the dockyards of Bordeaux and Nantes for 
the Confederates, should not leave port so long as there 
was any risk of their being used to our prejudice but 
the work went on in the dockyards as before and 
neither the zeal nor the resources of the builders 
seemed to have been in the least diminished by the 
pledges of the Grovernment. This was naturally a source 
of some anxiety to us, and it was advisable to see 



16 

whether the Courts of France might not be used at least 
to embarass and delay, if not punish the constructors. 
With that view I submitted the facts to Mr. Berryer, 
and asked him whether the parties engaged in building 
the vessels had not made themselves personally amen- 
able to the penalties which, by the French law, attach 
to any act, having a tendency to disturb peaceful re- 
lations with a friendly power. Mr. Berryer examined 
the matter carefully, and in a few days gave me an 
elaborate opinion, affirming the authority of the Courts, 
to fine and imprison all who were concerned in con- 
structing war vessels for the Confederates. The exist- 
ence of this opinion of the first lawyer in France, and 
most respected member of the opposition in the Corps 
Legislatif, I allowed to transpire in conversation, the 
press, as I was told, not then being at liberty to give it 
to the public. That it had none the less effect from this 
indirect mode of publication was demonstrated within a 
^ 1/ month. Arman, the principle contractor for the Confed- 
erate steamers, was a member of the Corps Legislatif, 
and supposed to be rather a favorite at Court. At the 
very commencement of the Session of 1864, he gave 
notice of an amendment to the Address, recommending 
a total disregard of the blockade and a practical re- 
cognition of the Richmond government, as the short- 
est means of putting an end to an unprofitable 
war which had proved prejudicial to the industry of 



17 

France, and when this amendment was reached, I was 
surprised and rather disappointed to find that the presid- 
ing officer passing it, announced that the next succeed- 
ing amendment was in order. Upon inquiry, it was as- 
certained that Annan's amendment had been withdrawn, 
and so quietly too, that not a journal to this day, so far 
as I know, has chronicled the circumstance. I will not 
undertake to assign the motives for this proceeding, but 
I may with propriety say, that the Government was 
aware that Berryer was determined to make war upon 
this indirect method Of encouraging rebellion in America ; 
that he was prepared to put Arman to the question if 
he arose to move the amendment, and to denounce the 
scheme in bulk and in detail, and that such revelations 
as he was prepared to make, must appear at length 
on the following day in the Moniteur, to be read by all 
France. 

I need not tell you that the adoption of such an amend- 
ment at that time would have involved serious conse- 
quences to both nations, certainly and especially to 
ours. The manner in which it was withdrawn satisfied 
me that the Imperial Government, if it had ever enter- 
tained such a purpose, had then definitely determined 
not to take the responsibility of letting the steamers be 
delivered to the Confederates. 

The event justified this confidence. One of them only, 

the Stonewall Jack^^on, fell into the hands of the rebels 
3 



18 

through the carelessness or something worse of the 
Danish Grovernment which had authorized the belief 
that it had purchased the Stonewall, and which certainly 
did permit her to float the Danish flag, and ship a 
Danish crew in a Danish port. 

The three other vessels to which I have referred 
were sold b}^ Arman, for account of the Confederates to 
other governments. 

After the peace, a suit was instituted in one of the 
French tribunals against Arman and his fellow con- 
spirators to recover the price of them, for which he 
had been twice paid, once in advance by the Confed- 
erates and subsequently by the purchasers. 

One of the very last professional acts of Mr. Berryer^ 
was made as the leading counsel in that prosecution. 
His argument in that case was every way worthy of 
his fame. The result of it, however, thus far has only 
been to vindicate the truth of an impression which he 
-conveyed to me at Augerville in 1863. The Court 
denied our claim and the cause is now I believe, await- 
ing the decision of a higher tribunal to which it has been 
appealed but where, unfortunately, it will not be sus- 
tained by his potential name and matchless eloquence. 

The peace of '65, which disposed of the rebel steamers 
as a bone of contention between the United States and 
France, gave a new gravit}^ to the subject of French 
intervention in Mexico. As the embarrassments of our 



19 

Government ceased at liome it was the more disposed 
to have its voice heard abroad, and as P'rance and hei- 
allies had ffone to Mexico withont much re2:ard to our 
wishes, we invited them to leave with about equal 
regard for theirs. It thus for the next two years be- 
came the great political problem of our executive to 
determine precisely how much pressure could be 
brought to bear upon the French Army in Mexico? 
without wounding the legitimate sensibilities of the 
French people, and rallying them to the defence of their 
national honor. 

Here, too, Berryer was one of our most effective 
friends. Every one knew that the honor of France 
was safe in his hands. No man ever loved his country 
more devotedly, or was more sensible to whatever af- 
fected her influence and dignity among nations. This 
renown for being one of the most Gallic of Gauls, one 
of the most French of Frenchmen, rendered him per- 
fectl}" unassailable when he denounced the ill-judged 
effort of the Government to imperialize Mexico. 

His speeches on the budget, on the Mexican loan, 
and subsequently on the project for guarantying the 
Mexican bondholders, did perhaps as much as any of 
the utterances of the opposition to alienate from the 
Imperial Government, whatever sympathy its humiliat- 
ing embarrassments might, under different circumstances 
have awakened among the people. The fact, — I do not 



20 

know that I should be going too far if I were to say, — 
the consequence was, that during the last year of the 
French occupation of Mexico, the policy in which it 
originated had no countenance whatever in France, 
except of a very perfunctory sort, and in purely official 
quarters. 

Berryer was born into the Legitimist party to which 
he was attached through life not only by traditions 
but by personal associations of the most honorable 
character. He would never allow that there had been 
any lawful sovereign upon the throne of France, since 
the expulsion of Charles X. Unfortunately he entered 
upon the stage of political life just as his party was 
quitting it forever. He was thus condemned to fight 
in the ranks of a hopeless opposition, for principles less 
acceptable to France than those of the government he 
attacked. 

One of the last acts of his life was to reaffirm his 
allegiance to the Count de Chambord, and to subscribe 
himself as the Count's " devoted and faithful subject." 
His chivalric efforts very early in life to save this 
gentleman's mother from the consequences of her folly 
in La Yendee, brought him before a council of war and 
was near costing him his life. His father used all his 
powers of persuasion to induce young Berryer, at that 
early period, to eschew politics, and devote himself to 
his profession. Looking back upon his career it may 



21 

well be doubted whether, in disregarding these counsels 
he added either to his fame or to his usefulness. His in- 
flexible loyalty to the Bourbon House, which with him 
was not a policy but a religion, incapacitated him for the 
leadership of any possible party in France and left 
him a political influence with the opposition not at all 
proportioned to his talents or forensic fame. The ver}' 
hopelessness, however, of the political cause which he 
espoused, made him comparatively indifferent to the 
success of the more influential parties into which the 
Kingdom has from time to time been divided and left 
him free, disinterestedly to support measures which 
seemed best adapted to promote the interests of France. 
He thus became politically a sort of tertium quid that 
could render the more service to other parties because 
he could do nothing for his own. To this may in part, 
though not altogether be attributed the amiable rela- 
tions which always subsisted between him and his 
colleagues. I say not altogether, for he was by nature 
utterly free from the vulgar susce]:>tibilities which so 
often degrade the relations of ambitious men. Never 
worried by another's success, no one was so ready as 
he to recognize the merit of a rival or a competitor. 
He did not comprehend the emotion of envy and prob- 
ably no man in France was more universally respected 
nor more devotedly beloved. He never could go into 
the provinces even on a professional engagement that 



.23 

lie was not overwTielmed with the most flattering atten- 
tions, public and priyate. 

Bei"i'yej"'s devotion to Henry Y was only greater 
than his antipathy to the reigning dynasty, which was 
.uncompromising. He had defended Louis Napoleon be- 
fore the Court of Peers when he was arrested for a 
'Criminal attempt t@ gain the throne and when it was 
iimportant to show that the prisoner was not possessed 
with amy undue lust of royal honors. It was in the 
speech which he made on this occasion that he directed 
that audacious reproach against the Court of Peers, 
which at the time thrilled all France. " Condemn him 
" in his defeat, if your €onscrenc^ assures you that 
•"had he triumphed ymi would not have served 
"him ; that yon wdio followed the miele, would not 
*" have submitted to the nephew and to please him, 
"• deserted the monarchy of July as you abandoned 
•" and serTcd the conquered Emperor and the fallen 
'" Bonrljon?" 

, Berryer never forgave himself for the part he took in 
this defence. He felt that he had feathered the arrow 
which pierced the lawful sovereign of France and thus 
had given his throne to a usurper. I doubt if Berryer 
ever met his illustrious client after the memorable 2d 
of Deceml)er. He never would accompany his col- 
leagues to assist at the annual openings of the Corps 
Legislatif in the presence of the Emperor .and I have 



23 

been told that when elected to the Academy, he 
was excused from the cnstomary visit to the Tuil- 
leries. 

I do not, think however, that the Emperor allowed 
anything that Berryer did, or neglected to do, to make 
him feel otherwise than grateful for his services and. 
grieved that his benefactor would never allow him some 
suitable opportunity of testifying his regard for him. 
In his reception address at the Academy, Berryer made 
a sharp allusion to what he termed the degradation of 
the lower or second Empire. His discourse the next 
day was suppressed by the police, but as soon as the 
news reached the Emperor, the interdict was removed. 

While to the great prejudice of his political influence 
and private fortunes, Berr^^er was devotedly lo^^al to 
the man whom he regarded as his legitimate sovereign, 
he was generally a supporter of liberal measures in 
days when it required more courage to be liberal, than 
it happily does in our time. 

Berryer was profoundly impressed by the processes 
and results of our efforts to put down the late rebellion. 
The sentiment of his opposition to the Imperial Gov- 
ernment made him hope rather than expect us to 
succeed. Our final triumph acted like a chemical 
alterative upon his political views. He had not till 
then begun to realize how much wiser is a whole 
nation than any one of the persons composing it. He 



24 

helped to give to Jules Favre, an avowed republican, 
and now the first orator in France, a seat in the Aca- 
demy. It may well be doubted whether ten years ago 
he would not have regarded Favre's political and re- 
ligious sentiments as a fatal objection to his admission 
to that body. 

I remember meeting Mr. Berryer one evening, early 
in 1866, at one of the few places frequented by the 
peoj^le of the Court, at which he was ever to be seen. 
I had just received the news of the dismissal of the 
Prussian Parliament by Count Bismark, after a brief 
but very stormy and threatening session. I mentioned 
to him what had occurred. He said: " You are the 
cause of this." Wishing to be assured that I under- 
stood him correctly, I asked him how the United States 
could be held responsible for a misunderstanding be- 
tween the Prussian representatives and their King ? 
"Because," he replied, " you have taught the people 
their jaower ; you have accomplished such marvels, 
and surmounted such obstacles, that the masses in 
Europe are beginning to suspect that they too are 
capable of bearing a more controlling part in the direc- 
tion of joolitical affairs." He said this in no spirit of 
criticism, but rather as one sharing the opinions which 
seemed in his eyes to be threatening the stability of 
the Prussian throne. Coming as this did from the ex- 
treme outpost of the party of Divine right, it satisfied 



25 

me that it was rather in the old workl than in the new 
that the future historian must look for the most momen- 
tous results of our late rebellion. In my opinion there 
is not a people in Europe now living under the same 
political constitution as before our war, nor a govern- 
ment there that does not share its power with the 
people on more liberal terms than it did when Jeffer- 
son Davis held his rebellious Court at Richmond. 

Grreat as were Berry er's parliamentary achievements, 
he will probably be remembered longest by his tri- 
umphs at the bar. While yet a boy he was associated 
with his father in the defence of Marshal Ney whom 
with the other Generals of the first Empire, he sought 
to rescue from the reprisals of the Restoration. He 
procured the acquittal of Cambronne and the pardon of 
Deibelle. Ney was shot, and I remember a reference 
he once made to the disastrous moral effect of this ex- 
ecution, in a conversation with me, soon after the first 
amnesty proclamation of Mr. Lincoln. He assumed that 
it was the President's purpose to insist upon the trial 
and punishment of all who were not included in that 
amnesty. He deprecated such a policy ; thought it would 
be a fatal error, and added in substance, that Jeffer- 
son Davis swinging from the gallows would be far more 
formidable to the United States than he ever was as 
President of the Confederate States. It will become a 

matter of just pride with every American, that we have 
4 



26 

never had occasion to test tlie correctness of this 
opinion. 

His greatest efforts were made in the prosecution 
of Laronciere and in the defence of Lammenais in 1833, 
of Chateaubriand in 1835, of Prince Louis Napoleon 
after his attempt to land as sovereign at Boulogne, of 
the Orleans Princes in 1852 against the law confiscat- 
ing their property ; of the Count Montalembert in 1854 
and again in 1858 ; of Dupanloup, the eloquent Bishop 
of Orleans and of young Patterson Bonaparte in his 
efforts to legitimate the marriage from which he sprang. 

It probabl}^ has not fallen to the lot of any barrister 
since the time of Cicero, to appear as the leading coun- 
sel in such a variety of cases of equal importance with 
these, and in each to add to the reputation he pre- 
viously enjoyed. 

It has been remarked that," "at his funeral all the 

a. Le Correspondent 

Some days previous to the death of M. Berryer the Count de Montalambei't, 
himself an invalid, wrote the following touching letter, in which he gratefully re- 
cognizes his professional obligations to his dying Mend : 

La Rocii-ex-Brexy (Cote-d'or, 29th Nov., 1868.) 

Illustrious Confrere and Very Dear Friend : 

I learn with all France that you are very i^l, and, like all France, I am dis- 
tressed by it, 'i- 

Not able, because of my sad condition, to go in person to testify to you my 
ardent solicitude, I do not resist the desire to address to you these lines. I wish 
to say to you that my heart and my soul are always near you ; that I suffer with 
you ; that I pray with you and for you. Like so many others, more worthy of 
being heard, I pray God that your days may be prolonged, not for yourself but 
for the honor and the example of your poor country which has so much need of 
such a light as yours. 

Independent of these wishes which are mine in common with all honest people 



27 

" clients of the illustrious advocate, from the sou of 
" Marshal Ney, clown to the Orleans Princes, were 
" present in person or by their descendants or vepre- 
'' sentatives at Augerville except the one whose head 
" formerly defended by him before the Court of Peers, 
" now bears the first crown in the universe." That 
this had to be so, probably no one regretted more than 
the august absentee. 

Berryer had no facility with the pen and never wrote 
even a letter that could be dispensed with. I believe 
that he has left nothing to perpetuate his fame but the 
imperfectly reported si)eeches by which he won it. '' 
It may be donbted whether he ever wrote a speech in 
his life except the one which he delivered on his ad- 
mission to the Academy and yet there are probably 
few written speeches of celebrity that have cost more 
labor and study than the best of Berryer's cost him. 

in France, there is one bond that unites us speciallj', that of gratitude. Never have 
I forgotten, never shall I forget, M'hat you were to me when twice delivered up to 
the courts for having said what I thought of the Second Empire, in 1854 and 1 858. 
I had the distinguished honor of being defended and avenged by j-ou. To- 
day, more than ever, the recollection of that voice, the most eloquent, the most 
pathetic of our country, which has resounded so loud and so far for so poor a client 
as mj-self, penetrates me with inexpressible emotion and gratitude. 

If I dare not call myself the most grateful or the most devoted of your fi'iends, 
I can at least affirm that I am the most ill of them. Condemned for more than 
three years to an incurable infirmity, I deri-^e from my own suifering-g a more pro- 
found and natural sympathy for yours. You will not disdain then, I am sure, 
this cry from a heart which is all yours, which admires you and loves you with 
the most ardent, the most tender, and the most afHicted affection. 

Cn. De MONTALAMBEIIT. 

h. Berryer was not in the habit even of reading the proofs of his speeches in 
the Corps Legislatif, for the Monlfcnr. 



28 

"Your speeches, Demosthenes, smell of oil," said an 
Athenian orator, who trusted more to vinous inspira- 
tion than to hard study for his success. " And yours,'' 
replied Demosthenes, "smell of wine." Berryer's smelt 
neither of oil nor of wine, for his study was so thorough, 
and his artistic taste so nice and so highly cultivated, 
and his susceptibility to the inspiration of an audience 
so acute that the hearers would no more think of ascrib- 
ing the merit of his discourses to preparation than they 
would the Eevelations of St. John or the Prophecies of 
Ezekiel. In his reception discourse before the French 
Academy he proclaimed, with graceful modesty, the 
superiority of the writer over the orator ; of books which 
remain, over speeches which pass away, in this adopt- 
ing if not anticipating the dictum attributed to Ohoate, 
that nothing lives but a book. He doubtless judged the 
durability of the orator's fame correctly and it is a sad 
thought, rendered more sad by a corresponding loss 
just sustained by our own bar,'-' that the combined 
effects of Berrj^er's sympathetic voice, his graceful and 
imposing figure, his exalted, almost inspired expression, 
perished with the occasion tliat gave them birth. Sic 
Haterii canorum illud et profiuens cum ipso simid extinctum 
est.-\ 

Cobden once said of himself what was eminently true 

* James T. Brady. f Tacitus, Ann. Lib. iv. 61. 



29 

of Berryer/'"" "It is known that I am not in the habit 
of writing a word beforehand of what I speak in public. 
Like other speakers, practice has given me as perfect 
self-possession in the presence of an audience as if I 
were writing in my closet." Berryer had a more sym- 
pathetic and susceptible nature than Cobden, not to 
speak of his superior literary training, and of course 
he kindled in the presence of an audience with more 
rapidity. It was this emotional quality with which his 
gifted nature abounded in a very uncommon degree that 
gave him such ready access to the universal heart 
and to which he owed his happiest inspirations. At 
a memorable fete which was given him by the repre- 
sentatives of the entire bar of France on the fiftieth 
anniversary of his professional life, he was so moved 
that he could not speak, and was blinded with tears. 
At last, recovering a little, and turning to Jules Favre, 
he said to him, '' M. Batonnier, you have advised me 
to throw my few words of reply on paper, but what 
should I do with them ? I could not read them !" This 
felicitous allusion to the blinding evidences of his emo- 
tion which were rolling down his cheeks, at once re- 
vealed their favorite orator in all his proportions, and 
converted what might have proved a catastrophe to an 
ordinary speaker, into one of Berryer's happiest suc- 
cesses. 

* Letter to Delane, December 14, 1863. 



Si) 

I would counsel all aspiring young barristers, — old 
ones do not need the advice, — to let Berryer's experience 
disabuse them of a too common impression that oratori- 
cal genius is a substitute for work. It would be very 
much nearer the truth to say that the work is usually 
in direct proportion to the natural gifts of the orator. 
Barryer never spoke without working out his speecli 
in its miiiutest details as completely as Michael Angelo 
worked out the plans of St. Peter's at Rome, be- 
fore they were committed to the artisans. He never 
availed himself of a point in an argument till he had 
found or made it impregnable. He was usually as- 
sisted in his preparation, to which the morning hours 
were habitually devoted, by some clever secretary 
or associate. At such times he would usually be 
found in his dressing-gown, unshaven, with a black 
skull cap on his head, his snuft' box under his hand, 
and everything about him indicating the absorbing 
nature of his employment. This period of gesta- 
tion, sometimes lasting several days, once completed, 
his face would become serene and cheerful, he would 
make his toilette with care, take some refreshments, 
send for his carriage and go about the business or 
pleasure which had the first claim upon his leisure. His 
speech was made, though not a line was written or to 
be written. His study was so complete, his memory 
so tenacious and the order of his mind so perfect that 



31 

lie had no occasion to give himself farther thought upon 
the subject. He trusted entirely to his audience for 
the inspiration which should clothe and present his 
arguments, but to the hardest study and most patient 
meditation for the. arguments themselves. 

In his discourse as in everything Berryer was a 
perfect artist. He amplified and expanded an idea 
as naturally as the sun expands a flower. He rarelj^ 
resorted to any of the logical formulas of argument ; 
to firstlys and secondlys and thirdlys to mitigate the 
inconvenient effects of prolixity or obscurity. His 
hearer neither saw nor heard the machinery of his 
mental operations but like the temple of Solomon his 
argument took form and proportion without the sound ot 
hammer or of axe. This symmetrical distribution of power 
was not confined to his discourse ; it extended to his char- 
acter. He was singularly free from those personal weak 
nesses which men advanced in years will never take much 
pains to conceal. Though accustomed to adulation all 
his life, it did not spoil him in the least. He betrayed 
no taste for talking of himself nor any propensity to 
treat current topics from a personal point of view, 
neither would he appear to rally against a compliment 
as though he feared he might succumb to an unworthy 
influence. In this as in everything else, his taste was 
as faultless as it was uncommon. It is needless to say 
of such a man that he was always a favorite with the 



S2 

gentler sex which is ever disposed to place grace and 
refinement before all other attractions in men. He was 
indeed reputed to have been something of a gallant in 
his time. 

Berryer was not thrifty. He acquired money too 
easily to have ever learned its value, a failing not un- 
common with men of genius and in them even, most too 
readily pardoned. When compelled on one occasion 
to offer his country place for sale, his admirers pur- 
chased and presented it to him. More than once I have 
been told, his friends had to make up a jmrse to dis- 
charge his debts ; a resource to which the examples of 
Pitt and Burke and Palmerston and Webster have done 
what could be done to give dignity and seemliness. 

His respect for whatever time had rendered vener- 
able extended to his residences. I have already spoken 
of his country home built more than two hundred years 
ago. He resided in town at No. 64 Rue Neuve Des 
Petits Champs where he had resided for more than 
fifty years. The room in which he received his clients 
and friends on the entresol was filled from floor to 
ceiling with books and papers carefully arranged. The 
chimney mantle was ornamented with a bronze bust 
of the Count de Chambord in his youth. On etageres 
were arranged a variety of curious works of art among 
which were two statuettes in bronze which he especially 
valued, one of Rossini and the other of O'Connel in 



33 

the attitude of denouncing with his clenched fist the 
enemies of Ireland ; near his seat and within reach 
were well-worn copies of his favorite books : the Imi- 
tation of Christ, Bossuet, Horace, Oorneille and Racine. 
It was with one or another of these, rather than with 
the daily journals, that he retempered his mind under 
the wasting toils of his profession. 

Without being in the common acceptation of the term 
a strictly pious man, Berry er was always faithful to the 
national church in which he had been educated and 
was a conscientious observer of its ordinances. Indeed 
it was a mere chance that he did not enter the priest- 
hood. Had he done so, it would probably have been 
less difficult than it now is, to name the greatest orator 
which the'Gallican church has yet produced. He was 
always the champion of the church when her preroga- 
tives w^ere encroached upon and one of the sources of 
his uncompromising opposition to the Emperor was 
what he regarded as the profane and unfeeling policy 
of his administration towards the Pope. About a fort- 
night before he died he wrote a note to the Count de 
Chambord, which reflects so exactly what was charac- 
teristic if not peculiar in his religious and political views 
that 1 caunot forbear citing it : 
" My Lord- — 

My King : 

"They tell me that I touch the term of ray life. T 

5 ' 



34 

die ill sorrow that I have not witnessed the triumph of 
your hereditary rights consecrating the establishment 
and development of the liberties of which our country 
has need. 

" I bear these prayers to heaven for your Majesty, 
for her Majesty the Queen and for our dear France. 

"That they may be the less unworthy of being ac- 
cepted by Grod, I quit life, armed with all the ministra- 
tions of our holy religion. 

" Adieu sire, may God protect you and serve France. 
" Your devoted and faithful subject, 

" Bbrryer. 

"Nov. 18." 

Whatever else may be said of it, there was something 
grand in the loyalty which could have inspired a man 
stretched upon his bed of death to write such a note, 
and something vital in the faith which in its final agonies 
was ready to charge itself with such an unselfish mis- 
sion. 

There is a singular unity about Berryer's public life. 
Though his talents woidd have commanded any price 
from any party, he remained faithful all his life to a 
cause which was ruined when his ])arliamentary career 
commenced. He never held any office which he did 
not owe to a popular election : he never accepted any 
office, trust, honor or decoration at the hands of any 



35 

sovereign or ministry. He owed nothing of his fame 
or worldly consideration to prince or to parties or to 
intrigue. He always was all he seemed to be. Tempted 
;as few men have ever been, he presents the rare spec- 
tacle of a long public life without a stain. He was 
honest in a venal age, and faithful in a changing world. 
Though attached all his life by the best qualities of his 
heart to a ruined party he so used his great talents as 
to earn the gratitude of his country and to win its af- 
fection. He lacked nothing but a living cause to have 
become one of the greatest historic figures of the cen- 
tury. 

With the death of Mr. Berryer a professional dynasty 
may be said to have become extinct. For nearly a 
century the family has held the undisputed sovereignty 
of forensic eloquence in France without even an inter- 
regnum. After a triumphant career of nearly fifty 
years the father already a septuagenarian withdrew 
from the Palais, because as he himself informs us,* the 
bar was falling into the habit of retaining his son against 
him. 

* cjouvenirs (ic M. Benjer, Doyeu des avocats de Paris de ITT-t a 1S3S, Tom . I. p. 309. 

I remember once ia a conversation with the son alluding to the pleasure I had received in 
the early part of my professional career from a perusal of these "Souvenirs," of his father. 
To my surprise he did not seem to take any pride in them. He said they were written when 
his father was very old — the implication was too old — that he himself never saw them tUl 
they were in print, which he evidently regarded as a grievance, and that they were not printed 
as they were written. He seemed dissatisfied with them altogether and to regret that they had 
Kot into iirint. I did not remember enough of them to guess at the cause of his dissatisfac- 
tion. 



36 

After a career of nearly equal length and of greater 
distinction, his son, though in his seventy-eighth year 
has at last surrendered his sceptred supremacy to no 
unlineal hand, to no succbssful rival, for he had none, 
but to that Sovereign in whose presence all worldly dis- 
tinctions disappear. 



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